When Halo 4 was announced, I wasn't sure what to think. I mean, after all, I loved Halo 3. I have played Halo 3 all the way through more times than even my favorite game, and it was such a satisfying ending, and it was my favorite style too: it ends the way it begins. But then, Halo 4 was announced and I didn't know what to think. I was excited, of course. Halo is, of course, the only big wig standard first person shooter that I can actually say that I love. But at the same time, handing Halo over to a brand new studio, after such an amazing game as Halo 3? That was a risky move, Bungie handing a blockbuster franchise such as Halo over to 343 was a large bet to make, but I'm proud to report that it is not a failure, in fact it is a grand success. Lets start off with the positives.
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Yep. In game. Be amazed (1)
To start off, this is an absolutely beautiful game graphically. It takes place on a sort of artificial planet, a planet that was created from technology, like the Halos on a much larger scale and without the destructive purpose, and with a lot of the scenery this is apparent. What I mean is, there will be sprawling natural landscapes with gigantic metal structures jutting out, but looking as if they belong. The graphics of this game are hard to describe, but they are fantastic. All of the covenant races have been touched up so that they look much more alien than before. Elites are scaly and look more vicious because of the touch ups on their jaws. The grunts are still pushovers, but they look more alien, at least. The Brutes weren't in this one, which I thought was kind of weird, but they would have looked cooler if they had been included. But this time around there are actually new kinds of enemies, a sort of artificial intelligence designed by the Forerunners to defend the planet. These are really interesting enemies because there are a few different kinds. And when they die, they begin to die from the point where the killing shot landed, and they dissolve from there as a defense mechanism. And these forerunner enemies are practically put together by gravity, like, they look like they just assemble from loose parts, and it is incredibly well animated. On the note of new things in Halo 4, there are also new weapons. Weapons of a completely different type. More specifically, the forerunner weapons. These are some of the coolest weapons I have ever had the pleasure of playing with. These weapons are just small assemblages of metal that, once activated, expand and light up and rearrange into something more resembling a gun. They are so. flipping. cool. and they do a lot of damage, so not only do they look great, they are also practical.
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I've attached this video so you can hear for yourself what I mean when I say that the soundtrack to Halo 4 practically speaks the words "we are screwed."
The high point of all the Halo games is the soundtrack, and with the usual guys not doing the soundtrack anymore I wondered how it would fare under new management. But I can safely say that the soundtrack to Halo 4 is the best soundtrack in the entire series. It is cinematic and dark and smothering in its beauty. It is also very different from the other Halo soundtracks in that it does not use themes over and over again. That wasn't a negative in the past, but the lack thereof is a huge positive in this case. Each piece of the soundtrack is different, but each piece looms gloomily overhead and gives life to the words on the back of the game, and in the trailers, "an ancient evil awakens." The soundtrack sounds like the soundtrack to an ancient evil, this horrifyingly powerful and advanced race returning from the ashes to destroy humanity once again. I am really big on soundtrack in video games, and Halo has always been the heavy hitter, but the soundtrack to Halo 4 is the heaviest hitter yet.
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This gigantic, ominous sphere is the flagship of the antagonist...and only a small part of a much greater structure. Be afraid (2)
Another thing that Halo 4 got right was the cinematic touch. There is one point inparticular that got my attention. Master Chief achieves an objective and the area starts to absolutely fall apart, and he has to escape in a vehicle, and it is done with just enough cinematics to make the tension palpable, but not so much that it was distracting. Gigantic bits of the ceiling fall within inches of you constantly, and you are constantly having to swerve out of the way of the destruction you leave in your wake.
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Nope. Not concept art, the real deal (3)
Another aspect of the graphic and cinematic touches that makes the game so great is the facial animation, which is darn near perfect and darn sure amazing. The new characters feel infinitely more alive than characters in the past, and this is only strengthened by the voice acting. The role of Master Chief doesn't call for much in the way of voice acting, but Steve Downes still manages to bring more to the table than is expected of him in terms of being a human trapped inside the body of a spartan, who is supposed to only live for the fight. And of course, Jennifer Hale is fantastic as Cortana, as we have come to expect from everything this woman touches, which is virtually every video game on the market.
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The Didact, an unexpectedly strong antagonist (4)
Now lets talk about the antagonist, known as "The Didact." He is a vanguard for the Forerunners who has come to retake their place in the galaxy. He despises humanity and is constantly working to destroy them. This is nothing new, especially not to the Halo franchise, but surprisingly, the Didact is actually a strong villain. Maybe it is because of how significantly more powerful than you he is, or maybe it is because his plot to destroy humanity is done through absolute utter hatred as opposed to the standard "the gods demand it" attitude of Halo villains, I'm not sure. But for some reason, I actually enjoyed having the Didact to struggle against.
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Chief and Cortana, a super soldier and an artificial intelligence: a love story like no other (5)
The thing that sets Halo apart from the rest of the FPS market is the fact that it does tend to focus on story and plot quite a bit more than one would expect. And Halo 4, thankfully, is no exception. Except, this time, there is also a deep personal story to be told in addition to the overall plot. This time, the focus is not so much on Chief as it is on Cortana. The premise of Halo 4 is that it is a long time after the events of Halo 3, and Chief has awoken from his slumber because the ship they are on is being attacked. They make it onto land, and Chief learns that Cortana has been in service for too long, so her A.I. is starting to think itself into a state of decay. In other words, Cortana, the character that we love, is dying, and they are lightyears away from anyone who can put her back together. The relationship between the two is strong, as usual, and ths time there is a fragile string of hope that they might make it in time, but Cortana is falling apart the entire time. Things look grim throughout the entirety of the game. And this all leads to one of the best final pushes I've ever played. It is cinematic, gloomy, graphically amazing, and fullfilling. And this leads to a well executed ending that is just cliff-hangy enough to leave room for other games, but provides enough to satisfy at least me until that time comes. And now, the negatives.
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I...thought we already won? (6)
This is a short game, short enough that I was able to beat it in one night on normal difficulty. It was a worthwhile experience, but I died quite a few times and still beat it in a night.And while the plot was really well done, a lot of it did seem really out of place and forced. Like, why are the covenant suddenly attacking again? This is never really explained, so it just seems sort of thrown in there.
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I don't have anything witty to say...I just like this picture (7)
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